Paradise Lounge FC 4 Pendeford Santos FC 1

Steve Spencer was the hat-trick hero for Paradise Lounge who booked their place in the second round of the Sam Kimberley Cup at the expense of Wolverhampton outfit Pendeford Santos.

Paradise made a superb start to the game and were soon one-nil up when Nick Hill headed down Ben Lowe’s long ball for Spencer to open the scoring.

Hill, wearing the captain’s armband in the absence of Graham Welsh, also set up Spencer’s second when his right-wing cross was perfect for the striker to head the Lounge further into the lead.

Despite being without three key players, Paradise were bossing proceedings with Hill and Adam ‘Badger’ Worthington performing brilliantly in the middle of the park.

Pendeford reduced the deficit against the run of play, but the hosts then restored their two-goal advantage with a counter attack the current Germany side would have been proud of.

Veteran full-back Mark Morris cleared a corner off the line and his header was picked up on the 18-yard box by teenage winger Jack Lowe who accelerated past the chasing Pendeford pack.

Lowe’s through pass was perfect for Simon Owen who cut in from the left flank and crossed for the Mesut Özil lookalike who had time to pick his spot and smash the ball across goal into the stanchion.

Early in the second-half Spencer made sure he would be leaving Beacon Park with the match ball when his stinging shot was too hot for the Pendeford keeper to handle.

Player-manager Dale Harley, who made his first appearance of the season as a late substitute, was delighted to go through to round two after shuffling the starting line-up:

“We made a few changes to give other players in the squad a chance to prove themselves and they certainly did that.

“I wanted us to get the ball down and make it do the work. This is exactly what we did and really we should have been out of sight by half-time.

“Steve and Simon were great up front and were supported well by the midfield, while the back four were faultless again. Everyone played really well, which now gives us a team selection headache for next Sunday.”

Paradise Lounge have been drawn at home to FC Marina in the second round of the Sam Kimberley Cup and will play them for a place in round three on October 24.